Category Archives: The Exchange Community

I’ve been away from Blogging since Christmas. Life has been busy in trying to grow a new church and disciple the people that God has given to my care. Here’s a short testimonial from John and Alex on how God is changing their lives through The Exchange Community.

In our new church in Jackson, Missouri, The Exchange Community, we spend three weeks talking about God’s Identity. We just finished four weeks talking about our Identity in the Gospel. We believe you always need to begin with Who God is, What he’s done through the person and work of Jesus Christ, and Who we are because of it, and then What we should do. If you get this messed up, you’ll live a life full of stress, regrets, and worries.

Our new church, The Exchange Community, has been meeting monthly through the summer. We’ve had three worship gatherings. We’ve had many people, who haven’t been to church in a long time, come and check us out. We are now taking that next step of faith by starting a weekly worship gathering on September 8th at the Creative Edge.

Through the summer we talked about the three values of a GCM Collective church:

Unfortunately, we had audio problems and so we don’t have a video for our messages on the Gospel and Mission.

We will talk on September 8th on Why a New Church? We will talk about why in, of all places, South East Missouri, do we need a new church? You’ll get an understanding of the come-as-you are culture that we’re trying to create. You’ll see what makes this new church community distinct amongst the other churches in our communities. You’ll also see why this new type of church is needed.

Please pray for us as we start this new church to reach many more people with the love and message of Jesus Christ.

The Exchange Community had its second monthly gathering. The first service we talked about the Gospel. In this gathering we talked about True Community.

Our third and final monthly gathering will be August 28th at the Creative Edge. Then we’ll start weekly gatherings starting the 8th of September. Please pray that God would continue to grow his church and lead us in discipling those we reach.

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There is a lot of talk about faith in the bible. Both Jesus and the disciples call people to look to and believe the Gospel (The good news of God’s love and forgiveness through Jesus). Yet when Jesus commissions his followers, he doesn’t call them to make believers of the world, but disciples. Yet what is a disciple?

A disciple is someone who learns from another. They learn to think like their teacher thinks. They learn to live like their teacher lives. When we come to believe and love Jesus, we want to then live for him. Yet how do we begin? Yes, we do want to read God’s Story in the Bible. But, learning to apply it is hard. Learning to walk in Jesus’ ways in the 21st century is difficult to understand without seeing someone else do it. That’s why it’s important to be in relationship with other people who’ve been, not only learning about Jesus and his word, but learning how to walk like Jesus did.

Missional Communities are a great way to learn God’s Story. Yet they are also great places to learn (with the help of other Jesus followers) how to walk as Jesus did. Life is hard, in-and-of-itself. Change is hard. Living a life of Loving God and Loving others is hard. Learn with the help of others. Find a family in a Missional Community at The Exchange Community.

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How Should You Dress at the Exchange? Any way you want! When Jesus was on earth he never made people dress in their best robes and sandals before he’d talk to them. He never told them to get a haircut, to shave, or to take a bath before he’d love them. He never told them to take of their hats, take out their piercings, or cover up their tattoos before coming into his presence. In the Bible we see Jesus inviting people to come as they are no matter what they looked like, not matter what they’ve done, no matter how messed up their life was at that time.

If you’ve ever felt uncomfortable in a Church but want to know Jesus, this community is for you. The Exchange Community is a Church for people who normally would never walk into church. We’re not about religion. We’re about Jesus, knowing him, loving Him, and Loving others. Come to the Exchange where People are Loved, Lives are Changed and God is in our Midst.

Let the children come to me. Don’t stop them! For the Kingdom of Heaven belongs to such as these. ~Matthew 19:14

We Love Our Children! Yet sometimes it’s difficult to get anything out of a message or to worship when our kids just won’t cooperate. For some the option has been for one parent to keep the kids at home or to send them to a Sunday school class during the worship gathering. Yet, in these cases, our children never learn the importance of having a rhythm of worship.

We offer an age appropriate story, activity, and snack for our smaller children during our message time. This way they get to worship with their family yet also hear a message at their own level. Just have you children sit with you and we’ll call all the children right before the message and bring them back before the closing song.

We also have a little room for parents with small children to use if necessary.

Here are a few suggestions to help you engage and teach your child about the worship gathering:

Before worship, talk to your child about why we worship God. Because of the great love that God has shown us through Jesus, we want to give thanks to Him and learn more about his love.

Communicate your behavior expectations before the gathering begins.

Have your child do the things you do, stand, fold hands, pray, etc.

Follow along with them in the bible reading for the day.

Especially if your children are too old for our kids Corner, sit close to the front so the child can visually engage with the speaker.

work on elements of the gathering at home with them: The Lord’s Prayer, Apostles Creed, and frequently used songs, etc.

Talk about the good things that happened at the gathering. Ask your children, “What did you learn about God?”, “What did you learn about his love?”, “What did you learn about Jesus?”, “What Story did they talk about in Kids Corner?”

Pick up a, “Jesus Story Book Bible” at the local bookstore or in the back of church to help you teach your children about Jesus during the rest of the week.

Teach them the gathering is just part of the Christian Life. Join a Missional Community to show them how God’s people follow Jesus together and Show his love through.

We all have a deep-set yearning for a better world, to be intimately connected to our creator, to see justice and harmony between one another, to live at peace with ourselves, and to see a day when sickness, aging, disease, and death are no more. We believe this is what God intended for us – that we were created to live in a perfect world and to take pleasure in a perfect relationship with God. We also believe that the whole creation is no longer what it once was. It is now groaning and breaking because of rebellion (sin) against God. Since that day, God has been on a mission to restore all things unto himself through the person and work of Jesus Christ. The Church is community comprised of those that God has already reconciled to himself and have made His family. God has chosen to work His mission through them to spread his message and show his love so that others are restored to God as well. Our Missional Communities are the primary way that we mobilize God’s people for His mission.

WHAT IS A MISSIONAL COMMUNITY?

A Missional Community is NOT primarily a small group, Bible Study. Support group, prayer group, activist group, or weekly meeting. It may entail these elements, but rather…

A Missional Community is a family of committed believers who live out the mission of God in a specific community. They build up each other in the Gospel and share it with others. They show the Gospel through serving others and restoring what is broken in our communities.

WHY ARE MISSIONAL COMMUNITIES NEEDED?

We, at The Exchange, believe that faith grows in motion. We grow our most in our journey with God when we are walking together in authentic and challenging relationships. Our Missional Communities (MCs) help people to get to know God and are the vehicle through which we share His Message and serve our community.

We also believe that people seeking God are also looking for a people who are show the radical love of the God they profess. For the unbeliever, that’s the test if the God we believe in could possibly be real. Because of Christ’s great love in saving us, we strive to be that people who embody the love of Jesus through serving the community and sharing our lives together. Each of our MCs will focus not only on learning God’s Story, but learning to live it as well through serving others and sharing the Good News of Jesus.

When we look at the Bible, God called his church the light of the world, a city on a hill, a kingdom of priests. We’re saved into a community, a family, called the church. In the book of acts we see a group of people living life together, mutually committed to one another and to the mission of God. God used His church greatly in the book of Acts because the whole community gave a collective witness to the life, love, and message of Jesus. Our MCs are the primary way that we partner with the Holy Spirit in to further the mission of God in our area.

EACH MISSIONAL COMMUNITY WILL:

Be led by a team of committed leaders dedicated to shepherding, equipping, and organizing their community into mission.

Grow in their understanding and application of the Gospel

To be the church throughout the week by living out the rhythms of a family on mission together (story formed, listen, celebrate, eat, bless, recreate)

Identify, equip, and release new leaders to begin new missional communities.

We’ve been gathering in our Missional Communities for over a year now. God’s been doing some great things through those MCs. We believe faith grows in motion and that the Christian life is best lived out together in Gospel Communities on Mission. Yet we feel like we’re ready to take that next step in planting a church. Starting this Sunday, June 23, we’re going to have our first corporate worship gathering.

What’s Behind the Name?

We chose the name, The Exchange Community, because it is central to the message of Jesus. The Apostle Paul says,

“God made him who had no sin to be sin for us, so that in him we might become the righteousness of God” ~2 Cor 5:21

In other words, Jesus traded places with us. The sinless son of God, the prince of the universe, gave up everything he had. He became one of us. He experienced our hardships, guilt and pain when he hung on a cross to die for our sins. He stood in the place of Judgment to pay for all our mistakes. We then, through faith in Jesus, step into his place. Everything that belongs to the Son of God becomes ours! Even though we lived messed up lives and daily make mistakes and do the wrong thing, Jesus paid for it all. Now when God looks at us he sees his Son, whom he loves. He sees someone who is accepted, approved of, and loved just as much as if we were Jesus himself.

Now then, we then strive to also make an exchange in our lives. Since he has shown us such great love, we want to love in return. We want to be a community who follows in Jesus’ ways and who loves as he loves as we exchange our dreams for the God’s dream to see all people become his children once more.

Location and Time

We are starting out having Monthly Gatherings throughout the Summer. We are meeting at the Creative Edge at 9 a.m. on the following dates:

June 23rd

July 28th

August 25th

We hope to start a weekly service after Labor Day.

Don’t depend our you GPS or your Phone to find your way to the Creative Edge. Their Address is not recognized by Google maps or any GPS I’ve found. You can follow this link to a map for the Creative Edge, even though they have the address wrong. Because of this I also created the map on the right you can follow. Enterprise is about a half mile south of Exit 105 on Interstate 55.

Please Pray

We have invited a number of unchurch or dechurched people to attend our worship services. Some of them have been involved in our Missional Communities. Others have not. Please pray that all who have been invited come and that they experience the love and presence of Jesus.